When my enemies are turned back, they will stumble and perish before you.
Psalm 9, line 4.
Fueling a motorcycle in our time is much cheaper than buying food for horses, so the villains in “Missionary” will roll on the dusty roads of rural America on bikes, which gives the film Dolph Lundgren a certain degree of coolness. Peeled chrome shines in the rays of the midday sun, leather jackets creak on powerful shoulders, and polished pistols, guns and assault rifles wait for their time, when it will be possible to frolic enough in this city of sin. So do not forget to roll up your sleeves, forgive the sins of the rootless dogs and prepare for battle.
“Missionary” was shot on modest money, so it is foolish to expect anything more from him, because it is a cheap and modest bashka, in which Lundgren wanted to remake the Western genre in his own way, paying tribute to Clint Eastwood, whose filmography is stuffed with such tapes. Here we also have an unnamed hero, seeking to treat the toothyroid, or the bullet of someone who deserves it, namely the rabid gringo, oppressing Indians on the reservation. "Harley" rushes from over the horizon, the roar of the engine breaks the silence, which does not bode well.
Dolph looks like embedded on the screen, his image is quite simple and memorable, but this will not be enough to keep the audience near the screens. “Missionary” may be poor, but it is ruined by the secondary nature of the plot, since this picture does not bring anything new to the genre. Lundgren makes an experiment of trying to be a little more humane when his character pushes sermons, instructs young people on the right path and saves the weak, but this approach is beaten and beaten, which does not add any points to the film. Something else is needed here, but it is still there.
Of course, the director has the same old tricks in the set, because how long do not teach the old dog, and he will not learn new passages. So Dolph skillfully uses what he learned on the wave of his popularity, when the powerful and strong singles were favorites of the yard boys who wanted to see another action movie with their participation. Lundgren is in the form of a preacher, it is pleasant to look at him, but all his efforts are not enough to save the film from decay and oblivion, since it instantly fades from memory.
“Missionary” is good until the moment when a sluggish shootout begins in the final, because this is the weakest point of the entire militant. Dreary bikers, as well as their owners, are not able to engage in a fight with the main character, since according to the script he is too cool, serious and accurately shoots. No one can cope with it, but this approach destroys all intrigue and interest in the plot. In the course of the play, we realize that the guy has a military background, so even the Devil himself does not dance a jig. Where did stupid assailants climb against such a scrap, shooting always past the target.
In general, the trouble of the "Missionary" is that he is monotonous, because even his manner of behavior does not strike the imagination. The operator sometimes takes close-ups, shoots from the bottom, but otherwise it only slightly dilutes the inert range of gray colors, a thin layer of smeared on the screen. Perhaps the authors wanted to put noir, but in the end they got only the graininess of the frame, expected under conditions of total economy. There is a certain zest in it, but it quickly becomes boring, although the general plans are good enough to grasp the hopelessness of the situation.
Bandits dream of profits, press the local population, kill everyone left and right until they themselves are hit hard in the teeth. This is their essence and nature, for they only squirm and seem strong against the background of the common people who have no ability to say no. The hero of Lundgren is their antipode, it costs him nothing to break his nose, knock out his knee, shoot a car or soak a brazen man, resting an already sinful soul. After his actions in the city comes silence, he is like death, equalizing everyone who comes across it in the way.
“Missionary” is certainly old-fashioned, but now even such films are not made when a brave loner speaks out against a flock of jackals who plundered the city and its inhabitants to the last coin. The preacher seems an anachronism today, but Lundgren carries an old-world ideology where on-screen a kind word and his Majesty the Colt could do more than current models of tolerance. He is incorrigible, so his paintings soundly beat in the face not only of evil violators of the law, but also of spectators who got hooked at the same time.
Honestly, sometimes we miss such characters in such turbulent times, as they are charged with good old-fashioned nostalgia that can light the flame of justice in everyone. As always, the main character appears where people desperately need him, restores order with a hard hand, and then dissolves in the hot haze of asphalt, as if he had never been there. Modest, tasteful, albeit with a slight touch of pathos, but with familiar notes of masculinity. Apparently, this is why old Dolph is still strong male fighters.
“Missionary” is suitable for one-time viewing, even if the viewer does not gain anything from it. Yes, there are other scumbags who have challenged law, society and order, but against them there will always be someone who can give a powerful response in time so that peaceful people sleep peacefully. There are even moments when everything is so quiet and detached at home that the thought of a wandering vagabond comes to mind, who still cannot find a bit of peace and tranquility. In general, the movie is modest, but it confirms for the hundredth time that there are no bandits in this valley.
The film "Missionary" - exact and direct hit in ten!
Very successful project. A good shot in the ten. In every way. Spectacular fights, cool shootouts, a sharp plot with a magnificent video sequence, and most importantly, the idea! All this is in the picture "Missionary". The tape looks in one breath. And the scenes of hand-to-hand fights and the rapid development of events, which really inspires the audience, are perfectly combined with the demonstration of beautiful places of nature and the general atmosphere of the film, which is characterized by the fact that it is very interesting and attractive. The film is characterized by attractiveness and dynamics of actions.
The protagonist. A few words about him. He is not only beautifully dressed, very confident and charming, but also a deeply spiritual person. You can immediately see his indifference to the surrounding world and to the injustice that happens in our lives. This man wants to make the world a better and cleaner place. And he does this not only with the word, but also with the deed. Thanks to his skills in hand-to-hand combat and the ability to shoot accurately. It looks very harmonious on a motorcycle and generally causes exceptional sympathy due to its charisma and inner core.
By the way, I consider it necessary to note that the performer of the main role in this film does not panic during combat operations and during extreme situations. I think it is right and worthy of respect. The fight must be calm and concentrated. No wonder the veteran of hostilities and Hero of the Soviet Union Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev in the program “Legends of the army” said that in battle to shout useless!
P.S. I would love to see “Missionary” on the big screen. Because such a large-scale spectacular and drive movie is perfectly perceived in the cinema. And even its name I really like. Concise and instantly memorable. Thank you very much and a real respect to all those who had a hand in it.
10 out of 10
In my opinion, this work of Dolph Lundgren, in which he tried himself both as a director and as the main character, is a very worthy picture of category B. Given how little money was available to the director, the production turned out to be very interesting and atmospheric. During the whole viewing did not have to be bored, the picture was viewed in one breath. The film as a modern variation of the painting by Clint Eastwood “The Name of His Death” (1985).
Dolph's hero arrives in a small Indian reservation town. He comes to say goodbye to his friend. He was killed by local tycoons and law enforcement officers. They run the city dirty business and keep the whole small town at bay. The official version says it was an accident. But as soon as it turns out, it is not so. There was a cold-blooded murder. With the bandits who keep the residents of the town under control and will unceremoniously deal with a lonely wanderer, in the person of D. Lundgren.
The image embodied by the Swede in this picture is amazing and very memorable. Blonde, in dark glasses, a hard grin, a shotgun in his hands and a Bible to boot, riding an iron horse, his motorcycle. The hero of Dolph is taciturn, silent, drinks tequila, but is very religious and reads passages from the Bible. The fighting scenes, given that the picture of the second tier, put great. Dolph deals with dirty lawyers effectively, a couple of tricks and the enemy usually rests quietly. Where the techniques do not help, there is a shotgun. Dolph never had a problem with him. A couple of shots, and the opponent is defeated. Everything is shown quite clearly, lubricated and rigid.
The picture is not without flaws, questions remain after viewing. As it seemed to me, the antiheroes of the picture were not convincingly shown. They are not particularly impressive, neither the game nor the appearance. You could probably pick someone with a more disgusting and brutal appearance for the role of bandits. A picture of the category of those when one beats all. To many, it can be a boring and slow sight. Everything is built around the charismatic Dolph. The end of the picture gives a hint of some mystical basis of the main character, I quite admit that many will not like it. The title is Missionary. Therefore, the biblical motifs and mystical outlines at the end of the picture appear very strongly. A missionary cannot be killed a priori. As a good beginning, he must punish evil. This is what happens to the main character, not a single bullet takes. What is confirmed in the final picture.
The production is made in a gray range, the entire visual background is gray and faded colors. They give a mystical hue to everything that happens on the screen. The musical range is very viscous and slow, it suited the picture perfectly. With this music, you feel the mystical atmosphere of the film even more. The plot for many will be very banal and predictable. The finale will confirm that. It should be different, because the mighty Dolph always wins.
A picture that many will seem ambiguous creation. Someone will look at it and forget it, and someone on the contrary will appreciate it, and above all those who love and respect the legendary D. Lundgren. Namely his fans, to whom I recommend the picture for viewing.
8 out of 10
In this film, Dolph Lundgren plays the main role, writes the script and directs. This is his film as the creator. Unfortunately, if you expect a traditional and beloved action movie with the Swedish giant, then nothing sensible here can not wait for all screen time. And if you take the bait that the film tries to provide in terms of drama and inner “meaning”, you expect boredom and only the outer shell of potentially deep thoughts. The "Missionary," in short, is incapable of boasting of anything for which he is to be watched except for a tick.
The plot is based on the idea of appearing in a town suffering from dishonest authorities, a cool hero who can fix everything. Local self-government is criminal, and local law enforcement agencies have their hands tied. It's all about money. And then the film still gets a good idea of the situation. There are positive characters — Indians — and there is an attempt to talk about the suppression of indigenous people by white aliens. In general, the Indians here are the most believable people, a little real, with a character, not a scripted program of behavior. But that's just a small positive in the big picture, and it's gray and useless.
Throughout the film, Lundgren, a glorious fighter and shooter, does almost nothing interesting. There are only three scenes of fighting and firing, all of them badly done. Hand-to-hand combat is fleeting, small and artificial. This applies to both the behavior of the actors and the movements of the camera operator. The main character wins everyone with easy movements, and they behave as if they are playing "in giveaways." The ridiculous movements of the limbs that twitch on the screen as if the creators wanted to hide their powerlessness from the eyes – that’s all. And all these episodes are short, the longest, or the shortest, at the end. There is already blood, which resembles not an action movie in its genre traditions, but some thrash. The lack of effectivity and clarity in the picture repels the eyes from the screen, and since from the first seconds of the first fight, at the beginning, the main character is “absolutely invulnerable” and falsely “cool”, then there is no reason to perceive him with sympathy and empathy. This is not the case when the fighter for justice evokes respect for his noble intentions and undergoes many trials to achieve his good goal. The intentions are clear, albeit partially, but since there are no decent fights, sane shooting and other goodies, that is, does the film have compensation in the form of drama? Maybe this is not an action movie, but something philosophical, intelligent, so to speak. No, because if such thoughts exist, it is only in the germ, not in the final result of production. Throughout the film, Lundgren doesn’t seem to change his facial expression at all. Emphasis is placed on its inner fullness, on its rich past, on spiritual fulfillment, but this is only an appearance without insides. All this "spirituality" and character are only in the reading of religious things and an unnaturally harsh face. The actor plays unconvincingly. It's monotonous. And since he is a writer and director, it is generally a shame to realize that he himself pushed himself into such a position. After all, if you are a hero of an action movie and you make your own film, do you have the right to make a movie where you do almost nothing, for which the audience loves you? Probably not, because when Van Damme did a similar thing, his painting “In Search of Adventure” came out in everything right – in the measure of action, in the measure of reasoning and freedom of creativity. And here, if everything is known in comparison, then there is no comparison.
Everything happens boringly and indistinctly. There is no doubt that everything will end well, because there are no truly interesting characters. There's no one to worry about, no one to watch. During viewing, it is difficult to capture the logic of what is happening, and it is not surprising if none of the names named in the film are remembered. In any case, none of the names of the main characters - before that they are faceless. If the religiosity of Lundgren can still be tolerated and spit on the fact that there is nothing good, then a surprise is also foreseen with a hint of the ghostly origin of this wanderer on a motorcycle. The film did not provide anything in terms of action, did not give anything to see, and here you are a fantasy of impotence. Or fiction, because the action plan, which is called “one wins all” here goes beyond the limits of the permissible. It all looks very stupid.
The predictable and boring plot is poorly implemented. His potential is not so great, and execution only aggravates everything. The main actor disappoints for everyone, and paying attention to the characters in the background no longer makes sense – everything is ruined and so on. There is no spectacle, there is no decent thought, but there are religious chips that were clearly conceived as something “very serious”. And in the end, it just slows things down. Well, a pale picture, which could give the film a special mood, only helps to eliminate any mood. Dolph Lundgren does not succeed here either as an actor or as an author of everything that happens. And that's a shame.
4 out of 10
What tequila Lundgren's character "ordered", this is how the film turned out. I mean, not fish not meat. On the one hand, you don’t want to criticize the film because of a very low budget, on the other hand, you think, ‘What the hell!’ The budget may justify the modesty of the film. But what the hell is this about acting, dynamic acting and a good script? Yes, to hire a good writer, you also need money. But let’s not forget that this is an action movie, taken from the style of the 80s and 90s. Moreover, the film does not belong to any “fiction” that requires not frail special effects. Here, there is a slightly mystical hero of Lundgren and this all the fantastic ends.
Initially, as we know from sources, the film was planned by “All Western”. Then, due to budget constraints or a version rejected by the creators, the action was transferred to our days. Most likely, the change was the budget. Otherwise, why did they need to add a certain atmosphere of the Western genre? It’s easy to say, they did it in a different way. The plot of the film is generally not bad and if I admit, I am just obsessed with such a development of the storyline. Well, like a mysterious stranger came to a small, provincial town and turned everything upside down. Therefore, I could not help but get carried away with this project (but first of all, on the eve of old Lundgren). A typical beginning, a slow development of events with sharp "cardiagram waves" and, as I noted before, created an illusion of some philosophical component, which in fact is not. To the minuses, I want to note the gray shade of the tape, which added to the film dullness and sagging, forcing some episodes to slightly miss (figuratively speaking). I know it's for "Western" sensations, but it has an effect on everything else. To my surprise, the final act was more vivid and this was served by certain moments: a shotgun shot in the head, a good sweep of the missionary with chains at the biker, Lundgen’s short-term “posing” with the same shotgun (they are so suitable for each other). But that little bit of joy wasn’t enough to fully rehabilitate the film. Because the finale was surrounded by dullness on the part of the antagonists and frequent missionary slaps. The same is true in the early episodes. Shootings with the main character looked murderous and dignified (against a budget of 4 million). I can't say the same about fighting. First of all, there is no specific level to say that fights are bad or beautiful. It seems that there are moments that look very cool, but in parallel with this, a lot of sluggish episodes. This is the fault of the operator, who more than once killed beautiful moments in the fights, mistakenly choosing angles. But the strangest thing is that the same operator covers some catches very skillfully.
A lot of actors don't play well. Because of the terrible dialogue, they also look like idiots. They ask each other stupid questions. The Indian "desperately" tries to philosophize. The only person who has played his character well is Lundgren. But from his mouth, too, nothing particularly stands out. Not a bad “nose” line I’ve heard in other movies before.
As a result, I will evaluate Lundgren’s work as a screenwriter and actor on a five-point system. Screenplay (dialogues) - 2, Directing - 4, Acting by Lundgren - 4
What does the average viewer think when he sees the name of Dolph Lundgren in the credits? Immediately before his eyes stand his Andrew Scott, Chris Kenner, Gunner Jensen and others – cool guys with guns at the top, who know how to properly wield their fists. What happens when he is also a director? Probably, it will be another action movie, in which he was filmed a lot.
This time, the expectations of the audience were not met. Deciding to try himself in a new genre of Western, Dolph could not find enough money for this and moved the action to our days - which, given the specifics of the picture, gave a very strange result. If the sponsors could see behind this seemingly simple script its true potential - maybe the film would not expect such a failure.
A stranger on a motorcycle arrives in the city on an Indian reservation, immediately attracting everyone’s attention. He doesn’t act quieter than the grass, on the contrary — almost from the first minute he gets into trouble — and maybe someone will say that Lundgren went to the worst option for an action movie, making the main character — that is, himself — completely invulnerable, but wait to jump to conclusions — the meaning of the film is much deeper — and more tragic.
Near the end, another side of this stranger on a motorcycle is revealed – and because of this, the film immediately moves into a new genre – into mysticism. And the questions arise - who he is, why he came to this city - is it only because of what he did there - or did he have some other mission, unknown to us?
Shot in a gray scale, the film did not lose anything from this, on the contrary – such an unusual color scheme in our time, coupled with a ornate script and a mixture of several genres at once, refer the picture to this author’s film with some admixture of surrealism. I must say that Dolph managed to direct this much better than his other attempts at directing in the genre of pure action films. Maybe he should focus on the art house?
8 out of 10